Prague - Looking through advertisements with homeownership ambitions but all price quotes are a bit higher than what you can afford? Do not despair! Realtors say that most properties in the end change hands for less than the advertised price.

"There is a large difference between the prices for which homes are offered and for which they are actually sold. How large, no one knows for sure because we so far have no system for recording transaction prices," says Jan Borůvka, general secretary of the Association of Czech Real Estate Agents.

But clients want to know the difference and often grill their agents to get an answer. Hence the association has decided to start monitoring this type of information. The project to collect transaction data is to fully start in autumn, and in winter the first statistics should be available. The will show the percentage of transactions executed at a lower price than advertised as well as the size of the discount.

Brits can knock off up to a fourth

Such statistics already exist in the UK. According to an analysis published on the internet by Real Estate Publishers, 60 percent of property sellers are currently going down with price. They offer discounts of 11-26 percent on average, motivated simply by a desire to sell.

That is the biggest difference between British property owners and those in the Czech Republic.

"A large part of the advertised properties do not change hands any time soon because the asking prices are way above the market reality," says Borůvka. "But Czech owners, unlike those in the rest of Europe, often won't go down with price. Instead they just don't sell. As a result, trading volumes are very low.

Unrealistic expectations

Borůvka says that Czech developers are equally reluctant to discount their newly built homes. "They fuel [other sellers'] unrealistic expectations by showcasing absurdly high prices. If they do give a discount, they do so covertly, in the form of various opaque bonuses."

While official statistics are not yet available, real estate agents estimate that the final transaction prices are up to 10 percent lower than the advertised price quotes.

"The purchase price is always subject to negotiation," says Radovan Hlavinka, director general at Gaute reality. If the agent sets the price well, there is usually no need to change it. But some owners want to try to sell for more, and only modify the price tag after some time."

Hlavinka says that a house that has for a year been advertised at CZK 6 million may suddenly change hands for just CZK 4 million.